Francisco X. Pineda, FRICS, M.B.A., M.P.A.

Francisco X. Pineda is a faculty member of the Master of Science in Construction Administration at Columbia University. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and senior strategy advisor on infrastructure to Gleeds. His research and professional interests lie in organizational intelligence, critical capabilities, and the structuring and management of complex project-based teams and enterprises.

In his twenty-year career he has worked on all aspects of the development cycle—investment, development, and construction. He has led and turned-around property development companies and construction projects, as well as businesses in hospitality, building materials, and food & beverage.

Following an early career in corporate strategy at Hess as well as investment banking and private equity at Merrill Lynch, he was engaged to lead one of the Middle East’s largest corporate recovery initiatives working alongside Shearman & Sterling and Moelis & Co on restructuring a $1.6 billion real estate portfolio.

Francisco serves as an U.S. Navy (Reserves) officer and in 2018 was selected as a Presidential Leadership Scholar by the Clinton-GW Bush-HW Bush-LBJ Foundations. More recently, in his programmatic and faculty roles at Columbia University, has co-founded the Columbia Construction Diversity Initiative, a research and development initiative focused on improving the supply chain and access and training of MWBE (Workforce, Veteran, and Disabled) contractors in NYC.

He has served on several boards, industry committees, and as a senior advisor: 

• MTA, Member of the Major Construction Review Unit
• Biden Infrastructure Policy Committee 2020
• World Economic Forum, Infrastructure 4.0
• Urban Land Institute’s (ULI-NY) Program Steering Committee 
• Cities4All Global Leaders Council (Ford Foundation, UN-United Cities & Local Government) 
• Turnaround Management Association’s (TMA-NY) Academic Relations Committee

Selected Projects & Deal Experience

• New York MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) +$11 billion East Side Access Ops Readiness Review: Member of the MTA’s Major Construction Review Unit (MCRU)
• New York MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) ~$2 billion Penn Station Access Project: Appointed member of the MTA’s Major Construction Review Unit (MCRU)
• $4 billion Delta/La Guardia Airport Reconfiguration Plan (NYC) Advisor to General Superintendent on Field Training and Development 
• $7 billion Columbia University Manhattanville Development (NYC) Advisor on Sub-contractor Diversity Procurement and Development, MWBE 
• $1.6 billion Restructuring of Sovereign Wealth Fund Real Estate and Construction Portfolio SVP Investment and Development and Executive Restructuring Committee (Infra, Hospitality, F&B, and Luxury Resi Assets)
• $711 million Besicorp Empire Power Holding, LLC - 639 MW CCGT Power Plant Development (NY) Lead Associate Energy & Power Group – Merrill Lynch Investment Banking

Courses

Francisco teaches the Elementals, Capstone, Construction Project Management, Advanced Project Management, Development & Construction, and Independent Study.